Everything Is More Beautiful Because We Are Doomed
by xxlei
Summary: Daughter of Briseis and Achilles tries to live up to her fate. Please read Author’s Note!
1. The One Star

Summary: Daughter of Briseis and Achilles tries to live up to her fate. Please read Author's Note! --Second chapter completely revised--

Disclaimer: None of the original characters belong to me.

**A/N:** The first thing I want to say is that most of this story is NOT historically correct. I have introduced some of the brothers and sisters of Paris that did not appear in the movie. There are a few versions to how the real story of Troy ended, and I have gone with the one that Helenus, brother to Paris and twin of the infamous Cassandra, has escaped (he thought up the horse idea, and in return, was able to escape) and made a new Troy in a place called Buthrotum. Helenus managed to ransom Andromache back from the Greeks and have a few children with her, so she appears in my story also.

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_Remember_

_ When your dreams have ended_

_Time can be transcended_

Just remember me

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Some say I was born a curse. That my legend is even greater than that of Paris. The difference is, you see, that Paris knew of his destiny. This Troy, salvaged by Helenus, did not want me to know my own fate. They hid it from me, like a secret never meant to be told. But I found out. I could always find out. Secrets flew around like the wind in this city. My maids would say it was just servant gossip, but I knew better. If I was in the Lower City without guards or the rest of the royal family I could see them stare at me, afraid of their own fate. Why was everyone scared of fate? You cannot deny it, and nobody even tries to fight it. Even the Gods cannot hold someone to something they do not want. I wanted to live my fate, and I had tried. I was more of a skilled archer and swordswoman than most men. I had fought in many battles, unseen of course, but no battle would compare to the one the oracles predict. I've trained, too. Helenus forbade me from learning swordplay, like a desperate attempt to stop be from being like my father, who killed so many Trojans. At least my father cared about me. He taught me how to fight, and as I watched men killing men on my cliff above the ocean sometimes I would find a bow and arrow by my side, and I would smile, knowing my father had left it for me. Sometimes, I could catch a glimpse of his blond hair down on the plain below, guiding swords for both sides.

When I was younger, I would try to make my hair fall in the same way, but I never succeeded, probably because my hair was more brown than blond, like my mother's. Most people usually say I look like my mother. The olive skin and big dark eyes. The brown sun bleached curly hair, blown into soft waves from the sea air. But my mother thought differently. She said I looked like my father. The way I walk, and the way I talk. She said when I got angry I sounded exactly like him. The blend of Greek and Trojan in my accent, heavier on the Trojan, because I had grown up hearing it. The little subtleties only a mother would notice. It was more a rumor than fact of my parentage, and nobody knew for sure. The palace tried to hide it from me, but to answer this question all I had to do was ask my mother. She told me everything, more like a best friend than a mother. Since I was a little girl I had told her everything, from the time when I was 6 and I stole Paris's horse because no one would let me ride one, to just a few days ago when I met a boy in the Lower City. Helenus had only caught me in the Lower City once, but that was enough to have him ban me from going down there forever. I didn't listen to him though, and my mother didn't make me. It was a stupid mistake to have made, letting him catch me, and I was positive he or anybody else would never do it again.


	2. The Last Light

Summary: Daughter of Briseis and Achilles tries to live up to her fate. Please read Author's Note! --Second chapter completely revised--

Disclaimer: None of the original characters belong to me.

**A/N:** The first thing I want to say is that most of this story is NOT historically correct. I have introduced some of the brothers and sisters of Paris that did not appear in the movie. There are a few versions to how the real story of Troy ended, and I have gone with the one that Helenus, brother to Paris and twin of the infamous Cassandra, has escaped (he thought up the horse idea, and in return, was able to escape) and made a new Troy in a place called Buthrotum. Helenus managed to ransom Andromache back from the Greeks and have a few children with her, so she appears in my story also.

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_I am the one star that keeps burning so brightly _

_It is the last light_

_To fade into the rising sun_

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I decided to go down to the citadel again. It had been almost a month since Helenus had banned me from "conversing with commoners," and I hoped he would have forgotten by know. I was bored, and with my cousin Astyanax gone I had no one who would play with me. It was cold, and nighttime, so I put on my black cloak, and raised the hood over my head. I wasn't taking any chances this time. I walked quickly out of my room, careful not to wake anybody. I had just made it into the edge of the courtyard when I heard a voice whispering to me.

"Hey- hey you!" it said, and I could tell right away it was Paris. "Halie? Where are you going?" I cursed myself for not paying attention. Paris would most definitely tell someonethat I had been out at night. He could not keep a secret.

"I left my bracelet in the stables," I thought quickly. He seemed to nod, though I could not see clearly in the darkness. He nodded to me and left quickly. I had not time to ask him why he was out so late. I heaved a sigh of relief, and continued on through the palace gates.

My maid caught up to me as soon as I entered the city. She, being my age, worked during the day and slept at her home. "Back so soon?" she asked, mocking me. Any respectable lady in the house of Troy would not accept this from a lesser, but I was obviously not a respectable lady.

"Yes, I'm back. Come with me to the armory?" I asked her. I needed to get a knife, and the palace armory didn't make the right kind.

"In the land of the poor, it's called a knife shop," she informed me, laughing.

"I know that!" I knew what I sounded like, but I couldn't help years of practice in calling the shop an armory. She held a one sided conversation on palace gossip the rest of the way to the knife shop. We were greeted by an empty doorway, of which my maid said was a normal thing. I entered, finding a dingy room surrounded by shelves filled with knifes of all sorts. A desk stood in the corner, but it was empty of all but a bell. I almost gave up upon seeing the state of the room, but I quickly swallowed my fears. I walked over to a shelf and picked up a knife.

"What are you looking for?" A handsome boy who looked my age stepped out of a back room. He words were forced, as if he knew he could be doing something better, but he was so smooth that I almost didn't notice.

"Ruby inlaid silver, with a three inch blade," I told him automatically. I always had a ruby knife. Usually I waited until I went to Greece to get a new one, but this time I knew I was not to be back there for a long while. The boy looked amused.

"This is just a simple knife shop, princess," he told me. Why did everyone want to mock me tonight? I stared at him for a second. He had olive colored skin, and cheekbones as sharp as ice. His eyes were so brown that they were almost black, and they twinkled mysteriously as he said this last sentence.

"And princesses always get what they want, do they not?" I retorted. I was glad that it was dark, for he could not see me blushing. I could feel my maid grinning in the doorway, enjoying this thoroughly.

"Don't princesses already have all that they want?" he replied. I couldn't quite tell what he was thinking, partly because of the darkness, and partly because he was just so smooth. It was a first for me, and I did not like it.

"Do princesses talk to commoners?" I snapped back. I would not let him get the best of me.

"Are you talking to me?" he said, beginning to abandon the entire "princess" act.

"Shouldn't you be able to answer that question?" I asked. He stared at me a second.

"I might have something in the back. Come with me," he said, and I followed him. He showed me into a little back room, just as dingy as the front one. He began to sort through boxes, and I was left staring at his back. I realized with a start that he was extremely good looking. He turned back to me, a box in hand.

"Here," he fingered the knife carefully, showing it to me. I lifted it of the box, feeling the familiar texture of rubies inlaid in silver. I smiled. "It's kind of special. So be careful," he said, and I nodded.

"Thanks," I replied, handing him a few coins. He just smiled, and disappeared into a door on my left. I admired my beautiful knife for a moment, and then joined my maid back in the front room. I quizzed her on this boy I had just met, but she knew little about him, and I, growing tired, walked back up to the palace with no catastrophes.


End file.
